CHAPTER III 



WIND AND FOG IN BERING SEA 



THUS we were on our way to the coast of Siberia 

 at its extreme eastern point, the Chukchi penin- 

 sula, which juts out from the great mass of Asia 

 nearly to the shore of North America. Our course lay in 

 a direct line some 220 miles from Nome, and therefore 

 about 335 miles from St. Michael, to Providence Bay. 

 But hardly had we been twenty-four hours on board 

 when the wind began to freshen and the barometer showed 

 an inclination to fall. The breeze kept increasing from 

 the northwest on our starboard bow. In the evening 

 the sails were eased and we had to change our course to 

 three-quarters before the wind, to pass south of St. 

 Lawrence Island and get under its lee. Captain Larsson 

 looked for a blow, and if it came upon us close to the 

 northward of St. Lawrence Island, we could not claw 

 off the lee shore. This was our first intimation that the 

 ''Abler" would not make way to windward against a 

 breeze and a moderate sea. She could do only six knots 

 an hour under gasoline alone with her eighty-five horse- 

 power motor, and a head sea combined with the windage 

 on the high cabin house made progress little or nothing 

 against a good wind. 



All hands turned out for supper, but soon after that 

 Elting took to his bed. Dr. Young to the rail, and Collins 

 to the fresh air. Elting exchanged bunks with me, as 

 the lower one was easier to get into. All through the night 



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